Talking about quality bakery in Medan, there are only limited numbers of them to be found. There is this shop/cafe in the heart of the city called Gourmand Baked Goods and Ingredients that sells a wide variety of baked goods (as well as raw ingredients for pastry-making). Reaching this bakery is quite tricky, since you could only reach this place from Jl. Imam Bonjol. Without any "real" parking area, it does somehow imply that this place should be just a good short stop.

The exterior of the building gives the feel of colonialism with some touch of classic decoration. But then there is a hint of modernism if you look at the corridor leading to the kitchen. An open seating is provided, and would be best enjoyed in the afternoon with cloudy skies and nice wind blowing. The small water fountain gives a good sense of ease and serenity in the middle of a hectic city - as if we are in an oasis - very nice!

Inside the shop, the breads and pastries are displayed and prepared thoroughly so it is easy to take and choose from. Getting further inside there is cake and chilled/refrigerated quick meals to choose from, sadly, we are too full to try those quick meals. Maybe next time! There is a second floor which sells raw ingredients for pastry-cooking needs. There are great numbers of quality ingredients to choose, which mostly are imported.

After choosing a very limited number of quick bites (we're full, remember?), we chose our beverages from the cake/drink counter and paid at the counter next to it. We asked them to prepare our baked goods so that its easy to eat and share.

These were what we ordered/picked: Chocolate Banana, a good tasting bread with chocolate and banana filling - its obvious, right? The bread was very soft and tasted pretty nice, not too sweet, which was deemed good for us. And there is this banana filling which adds up to our daily fibre needs. 

Then there was this slice of cake, which was very sinful to be eaten. The size of this slice of cake was monstrous, and the taste was heavenly. The cake is layered with creams and the texture was somehow too soft that when we tried to pick it up with the plastic cutlery provided, it crumbled. It is not recommended for a single person, unless you haven't eaten for a long time, lol.

To stabilise our intake of sweet goods, we decided to try the crouton. Crouton is sliced bread that is re-baked and seasoned, hence the crispness. Our crouton of choice was the Parmesan Crouton - savoury and addicting. Back then, when we asked to prepare the crouton as well, we thought that it would be served on the paper plate as well, but then it was simply teared off at the top of the package. Funny.

While eating, we were the only ones occupying the seating area, maybe it was rare for people to enjoy a cup of tea at night? I saw this guy drawing on the blackboard at the end of the corridor leading to the kitchen. Such an interesting sight, such a good hand-drawing!

Looking at the great numbers of baked goods to choose from and how limited our picks were, I should make other visit - yes, it is worth another couples of visit. I am quite interested to try the baked quick meals - it should be next!